Disclaimer: Blah Blah Blah, don't rub it in, cause I don't own it.
A/N: Ok, let me hear it, the drum role and applause. Your author has actually updated within a months time. I hope you like this chapter, it's a long one, and it took me more brain power than I expected.
Chapter 9: Insuring the Plan
Midnight rolled around fast for Harry in the room with the 7 boys. It was officially the 12th of July, and Bills enlarged room was still cramped as Harry attempted to sleep in the back left corner. Christopher was snoring loudly beside him, and he couldn't sleep. So what better to do in a room with a bunch of boys than to do Hogwarts homework? Around 3 in the morning, he finished with his Charms and Defense Against the Dark Arts essays and drifted into an uneasy sleep.
A long corridor formed in front of his dreaming eyes. At the end of the long corridor was a black door. He walked slowly down the hall as his footsteps echoed off the stone walls. The floating candles along the corridor flickered slowly past, and after what seemed like 5 minutes he saw a lone figure standing in front of the door. A minute past and he could make out a slender figure standing with their back to the door. Another minute past and he saw the figure was wearing a dark robe, but he couldn't see the specific color. The next minute past and he stopped walking; he could see the person more clearly. This person is in fact a woman, and one that he'd never seen before. This woman had blond curls, and caramel eye. Other than that, he couldn't see any resemblance to anyone he knew. The figure saw something, and rapidly pulled out her wand. It looked like she cast some kind of spell, but Harry didn't know which. That was all he knew of the dream before he woke up.
Down at the department of mysteries corridor, Kendra stood awake, alert, and vigilant. The black door behind her was protected under her watch. After three hours of patrolling Kendra's ears perked up as she heard footsteps. The floating candles flickered, and for about 5 minutes she heard the footsteps coming closer with every echoing step, and the sight of a figure was outlined. Her heart started to race, and her mind started to swirl. She thought to herself,
"What happens if after all these years I do not remember how to protect myself? What, was I away from magic too long, and I'm not as powerful as I used to be? Maybe marrying a muggle after all wasn't the smartest idea to get out of the world I loved so much." A minute past and she could make out a broad shouldered figure taking its time. A minute past again, and Kendra saw the figure had a dark robe with a mask. The figure stopped walking, and she could tell that the person was inspecting her. This was in fact a man that Kendra didn't know. All she could see of the man was his short dark hair and shifty eyes. This man had a lot of resemblance to a Death Eater, but she did not want to attack first in case he wasn't. Suddenly, the man's eyes darted wildly around, and she could tell that he was scared stiff. So she pulled out her wand to make sure nothing was out of place besides this man's presents. She first cast a strong shield charm, and then did her routine checks. Her observation was correct, no one else was in the ministry with her besides this person, and no one except muggles was outside the Ministry. The man slowly turned around and walked back to the elevators.
Harry woke with a start, and his scar burned. As he furiously rubbed it, the snores and heavy breathing of the other occupants assured him that he didn't wake any of them up, or make much noise--if any. When he was finally wide awake, he blindly reached for his glasses on the windowsill. To say that Harry was tired was an understatement. Four hours of sleep didn't do well on a restless night, the dream bugged him enough. He thought about asking his parents about the woman in the dream, or what the long corridor meant, but he knew that with so many people around that he would just get vague answers. Another 10 minutes of pondering went by and he had a solution that would hopefully work.
Holly,
I hate to bug you so early in the morning, but I had the weirdest dream. It was of a long corridor somewhere with a black door at the end. A woman was standing in front of the door I assume to guard it, but I don't know what the door means or what she is guarding. I remember in the dream that there were echoing footsteps, and that it took a long time to get within a visual distance of the outline. I noticed then that the door was being guarded by this person. I then noticed a dark colored robe, but nothing else, and when I moved closer I could see that this person had curly blond hair, and brown eyes. The dream ended with the woman casting a spell, but I didn't find out what one because I woke up. I was just curious if you know of any such place. I would tell my parents, but with everyone here I know I'm not going to get an answer from them. Thank you for what help you can give,
Your cousin,
Harry
15 minutes later Harry finished his letter and listened carefully to make sure that no one else was awake. He moved slowly out of bed and tiptoed to the door which was ajar. He opened it quietly, and slipped out careful to not make much noise. The descent to the kitchen was a breeze, and he quickly tied his letter to Hedwig's leg. Harry watched as she flew off into the morning air, and he hoped he would get an answer back sometime today. He crept back up the stairs and back into bed making sure he kept the door ajar so no one would notice if anything significant happened in the night.
Forty minutes later Hedwig found her way to Davidson manor, to the window where Holly sleeps.
"Tap tap tap."
Inside the room a sleeping Holly lay with the family pets. The golden retriever was curled beside her, the cat was lying above her head, and the snake was curled on her stomach. The Coils lifted her head off Holly's chest wondering what the noise was.
"Tap tap tap."
This time the Cat woke up and stared at the window. Holly groaned in her sleep while the dog slept on.
"Tap tap tap."
Now the noise was aggravating the two conscience animals because Holly, now half asleep, heard both hissing at the window. The noise had just barely woke her up, because all she did was groan again, but with more force, that she didn't appreciate being waken up this early.
"Tap tap tap."
This caught the Dog's attention, and she lifted her head looking in the direction of the window with her ears perked up. Holly groaned again and mumbled,
"Shut up, and go back to sleep."
"Tap tap tap."
That was the final straw for Holly; the noise had finally woken her up. As she got out of bed, she gently shoved Coils to the side and got the Cat out of her hair before she crossed the room to let in the owl. It was Hedwig she noticed and Holly took the letter out of her beak. When she shut the window Hedwig flew and landed on Coils to rest after the long trip. Holly sat on the bed unrolling the note.
"Chabrenlagotile" she said tapping the paper with her wand and instantly the words turned in to Braille. After she read the note, she decided that she would show her mom, but she had a good idea who was down in that corridor.
"Patchintroingen," and the dots turned back into hand printed letters again.
It was finally 8 o'clock in the morning, and Kendra was tired. She made her way to the elevators hoping to get out before many people saw her. She pushed the button, and waited. At last the doors opened and she stepped into the empty space. She listened to the cool female voice announcing every floor on her way up to the atrium. As the doors opened again she was stunned into silence by the sight of her young brother James Potter standing, and waiting sleepily for the doors to open. She saw James' eyes widen, and he was also rendered speechless.
"James?" Kendra whispered.
"Kendra?" James whispered back.
"Long time no see." she said.
"Yes, long time, no see." James agreed. His mind worked fast, and in a flash Kendra found herself under James invisibility cloak. The doors closed again, and it took them down to the auror office where he worked.
When the doors opened for Kendra again, James gently wrapped his hand around her arm, and walked with her down the long hallway to a long row of cubicles. He entered one a second later and motioned for her to sit in the empty chair beside his.
"Muffliato," He whispered, and then asked, "What are you doing here?"
"Business for the order." she replied.
"But Albus said you were staying out of it for now." He said annoyed.
"I was, but he couldn't do his shift last night, so he asked me to cover for him." She said shakily.
"Nice of him to tell us." he said sourly.
"He doesn't want to draw too much attention to me; I'm supposed to be the one thing Voldemort will not expect to protect." She said with the hint of a pleading tone.
"That's good and all Kendra, but isn't that Holly's job?" he voiced aloud.
"It is, she knows what Dumbledore needs, and I don't. It will always be that way. I think she is keeping her secret only between her and Dumbledore, and of course he can tell everyone in the order." Her voice sounded more confident this time.
"True, but besides that, how have you been sense I've seen you last in the hospital with Kelly?" His expression change from one of annoyance, to one of curiosity.
"I have been doing well, Ed knows about the magic now, Lilly ruined my cover." she answered with a scowl.
"Well, that's what you get for having a very dominate jean of magic." He said with a grin. Kendra punched him,
"Insufferable," she mumbled, "Are you that egotistical about our family jeans?"
"Well, you may call it egotistical; I call it confidence in our parentage." He said arrogantly. Kendra grimaced,
"I see you haven't lost your arrogant attitude pertaining to our family. I would have figured your wife would have squashed even some of it out." she said with annoyance.
"Sorry sis, at least I'm proud of who I Am." he said, still grinning.
"There is a big difference between being proud of it, and being insufferable with arrogance over the whole thing." She said scolding.
"That, there is," he agreed, "Anyway, how's the kids?"
"They are good, although I'm worried about Mitch." She said in a sorrowful tone.
"What's wrong with him?" James asked curiously.
"Did you hear about Coils biting the 3-year-old?" she hesitantly said.
"Yeah, Albus told us when he came for Jack's birthday party." James said somberly.
"Well, I have a feeling that he's not giving up on the idea of making muggle children suffer." she said with a disapproving tone.
James hung his head, and mumbled, "Great, more work for me."
"Sorry bro, but that's how it goes. I'm trying to get him away from the corruption, but it's not working."
James got up and hugged his sister.
"Ya know, I really have missed you, and I wish I could see you more often than I do." he said with a far off look in his eyes.
"I miss you too, but until you let Lily know I exist, I can't help you. Honestly, your nieces and nephews want to get to know you, and your family better, sense they are cousins and all, but none of them know they are related." She said with guilt written in her tone.
"I know, I know, I just can't bring myself to tell Lily that Holly is one of her relatives, not to mention that Lily was jealous of her for at least a little while, and then tell her that I've got an older sister that she's never met." He said, as Kendra's guilt rubbed off on him. Under the invisibility cloak, Kendra's eyes wandered over the items on her brother's desk. Quills, parchment, ink wells, fat folders, thin folders, and on the wall of the cubicles she saw small pictures of children that looked like his, but the one that caught her attention the most was the picture of a group of them. She just had to ask,
"Who are they? She pointed with a floating hand. James' attention shifted to the picture of his family.
"Your nieces and nephews." he answered.
"Who is who?" She asked curiously.
"Well, from left to right we have, Jane, (the curly red head who has my eyes is 17) Carianna and Harry (the twins that have my curly black hair, but there mother's green eyes, they are 15) Emma and Wen Wei, (our second set of twins that have there mother strait red hair and green eyes who are 11) Jack, (t has his mother's strait hair, but my hair color, and of course he inherited my hazel eyes, he just turned 10) Georgette, (that has her mothers strait red hair, but my hazel eyes who is almost 2) and now we have Symphony, and David (the third set of twins, they have there mother's strait hair, but my black color, and there green eyes obviously come from there mother as well.)" He said pointing to each child. Kendra looked at each child one by one,
"They are all beautiful James," she said as she got up to hug him.
"Thanks sis." He said grinning and hugging her back.
"Well, it's getting late, and I've got to get home to make breakfast, and I'm sure you've got to get to work."
"Well, all right, so I'll talk to you sometime soon in a letter?"
"Yes, sometime in a letter. I'll even send a family picture of all the children if you want." she offered.
"I'd love that, o, and what are there names? I know about Lillianne, Mitchel, Hollianne, and Kellianne, but I don't know about the others."
"Nathaniel, Gabriel, Sallianne (sally) Samuel, Daniel, Mollianne, (molly) Rillianne, (riley) and Phil." she said with a smile.
"Well, you better go, it's about 8:30, and I bet some of your kids are waking up." James walked Kendra up to the atrium, and helped her flue without any notice from the rest of the ministry.
She got home when the clock struck 8:45, so she walked quickly into the kitchen to make breakfast in 15 minutes for all her children. At 9:00 Kendra heard a set of 8 paws scampering down the stairs, and a set of human footsteps following.
"Good morning Holly." Kendra said to her second oldest daughter.
"Morning Mom," Holly said, "So, I got a letter from my cousin this morning."
"A letter?" Kendra said surprised.
"Yes, from Harry." Holly said smiling.
"How does he know about you?" Kendra asked.
"Uncle James told him one day when they went to the attic to get trunks so they could leave that day to go to the Burrow."
"That makes sense." Kendra said as she set a plate out breakfast in front of Holly.
"Mum?" Holly asked.
"Yes dear." Her mom asked distractedly.
"Harry had a weird dream last night."
"He did?" Kendra stopped absentmindedly scrubbing the counters and looked at her daughter, "What was it about."
"He said that he was in a long corridor with a black door at the end. There was a woman there too, and he said that he thinks she was guarding something. He said it took the dream a while to present even an outline of the woman, and then all he could see was a dark robe, but when it came closer, he said that cone saw the woman had curly blond hair and brown eyes. He also told me that the dream ended with this woman casting a spell with her wand, but he didn't know what because he woke up. He was just wondering if I knew of a place with that description, and if I knew who the woman was."
Kendra was shocked, well more than that; she was the one at the department of mysteries last night. She was the one who was guarding something from VOLDEMORT. She was the one who cast a spell, and certainly, she was the one who saw that person last night on her watch.
"Holly, I believe the person was me." Kendra said slowly. Holly's head snapped up,
"What! you?"
"Yes, me. I was there last night when a lone figure came to get the prophecy from the department of mysteries, but I can't figure out how Harry saw, because that's exactly what happened when I was standing guard."
"Oh, my, God," Holly said with a miserable look, "Then what do I tell him."
"Don't worry about it, I'll send him a letter myself." After these last words, one by one all of her children came down for breakfast.
With a heavy heart, Kendra made her way to the study. She didn't know how to write this letter to a person she didn't know, but she knew that she had to be the one to write it.
Dear Harry,
I am sorry, but Holly is unable to send you this type of letter with the information you request. I can tell you that the person you saw in your dream was me. The corridor that you were in lies within the ministry on the ninth floor. There are courtrooms, and that corridor is called the department of mysteries. That was the door I was guarding last night. The entire Order is protecting the prophecy concerning you and Voldemort. There was a man who came down to visit, or rather to try and get past any guard currently guarding the door. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about because you saw the whole thing from what I understand. I have also sent your original letter for your dad to read so he knows what? Letter means. Now look on the back of this letter.
You're Aunt
Love, Kendra
When she rolled up all three sheets, she put antiopening charms on it 'which can't be opened unless the rightful owner's fingerprint is detected' and other spells that would leave the intruder begging for death. Holly came in at that moment,
"So, you finished writing that letter to Harry?"
"Yes, do you want to deliver it?" Kendra asked with a smile.
"Sure! That'd be fun!" she said excitedly. Holly transformed into her animigus form, and Kendra put the note securely in her beak. Holly then flew to find Hedwig so they could start the journey. Kendra followed Holly upstairs, and let the two animals fly out the second story window.
Around the time Holly and Hedwig left, our view returns to the Burrow where kids were just leaving the breakfast table, the mothers were cleaning the dishes, and the fathers were cleaning off the table just to help. The children went outside to get fresh air, and play various games. Forty minutes later when Holly was in earshot of all who were outside she let out a long beautiful song. Everyone present stopped what they were doing to listen, and when they could see what was singing they all stared in amazement. No one has ever seen a blue phoenix except one, and he looked worried, but the rest were just astonished. As the Phoenix came within the boundaries of the Burrow everyone wondered who it was taking the letter too. Holly and Hedwig found Harry and lit on each shoulder. He was surprised when they did because he didn't move till Holly trilled another short song. He took the letter out of her beak as James made was way over to his son. Holly saw him coming so she flew over to him nipping his ear. Harry looked at the scroll and it read,
"You have to have your Dad open this and read it." Harry turned his head to see where his Dad was when he saw he was right beside him.
"Who's the letter from?" he asked.
"I don't know," Harry answered honestly, "It just says that you have to open it."
"Let me see it then." James said as he held out his hand. Harry put the scroll in his hand, and James looked at the lettering and then said, "Sapphire, why is your mother writing to Harry?" Holly's answer was hopping off his shoulder and lighting again on his head. James took Harry's hand and led him into the house and up to the room where Harry slept. James was the first to speak,
"Harry, do you know who wrote this letter?"
"No, I don't actually." he said with a confused look.
"Sapphire, why is your mother sending Harry letters?" James asked the bird. Then, in one fluid motion the phoenix was no longer there, but a girl with curly blond hair and blue eyes.
"Holly!" James hissed, "Anyone can come up here you know."
"Yes, I know that, that's what the transforming is for."
By now Harry was rendered speechless.
"Wait... um... she's... cousin... Holly?" Harry said spluttering almost incoherently.
"Yes Harry, this is your cousin Holly." James said pointing to her when he said her name. "Why is your mother sending him a letter?" James asked again.
"He sent me one this morning wanting information that he knew you wouldn't give him." Holly replied.
"What information?" He said with a frustrated growl.
"Read the letter, and you'll find out." Holly prompted.
Before you read this just remember little brother that I want you to read this entire thing to your son, and I'll know if you don't because the appropriate action will be taken immediately. James stopped there and said,
"My sister has no faith in me, does she?"
"Obviously not when she was so willing to let me come and deliver it." Holly said amused.
"Dear Harry," The letter started. After the entire thing was read, James was extremely confused.
"Look on the back." the note said at the end. James flipped it over and read aloud,
"Oh, and James? I sent you a picture of the family like you asked. I just didn't think I would send it this quick. I would hope by now that you got the message in the beginning, but in case you didn't, here it is. I would also like to remind you that if you had not read this entire letter to your son or will not tell him the entire prophecy straight away that I'll personally come to the Burrow myself to do it and while I'm at it tell Lily I'm your sister."
"Lovely, I've got a death wish." James said gloomily. "Well, I've got no choices but to tell you the prophecy now Harry, so here it goes. After the prophecy was told, and another 5 minutes of silence Harry said,
"So what does it mean?" he said in concentration.
"It just means that either you or Voldemort have to die. One of you has to kill the other." Holly said as she beat James to the explanation. Harry's head hung as he took in the information.
"Why didn't anyone tell me this before?" he asked. James looked nervous, but answered anyway,
"Because we weren't sure until a few days ago that it was what it meant. We didn't know how much it would affect your life." A few minutes later James picked up the family picture and looked at it for another few minutes. "Well, I think Harry and I need to get downstairs, but before we do," James turned to look at his son, "If you have questions about any of this, I'll be more than willing to answer them."
"Thanks Dad," Harry said as he hugged his father. James gave Holly a next, and then Harry gave her a hug before she transformed back into the phoenix. As they exited the room they were met by the evil stare of Lily.
"What were you guys doing in here?"
"I'll tell you later Lil, I'm going to have to eat quickly and get back to work." James said. She was not satisfied, but she couldn't argue that he needed to get back to work. Holly flew and landed on Lily's shoulder, burying her head in the bushy red hair.
"I think Sapphire likes your hair Lils." James said.
"Huh? Oh!" Lily didn't even notice that Holly was on her shoulder, and as a reflexive answer, Lily pet the magnificent bird.
"She is a beautiful bird," Lily said, "I like her, can we keep her?" James chuckled,
"Lils, we can't keep her, she's got to go back home." Lily's face fell, but when James hugged her she relaxed and hugged him back. When Holly made it home around 2:00, she went to her room to relax for the rest for the day.
7:00 came quick for the residents who lived in the Burrow. That night's Order meeting was going to be short, but necessary because they needed to see who would watch the door. After the meeting that ended at 8:00, asked Dumbledore if he could talk to him in the other room.
"Yes James?" Dumbledore asked when they got out of earshot of the rest of the Order.
"Harry had a dream last night of what happened last night in the department of mysteries."
"What?" Dumbledore said with surprise.
"Yes, and I was just wondering if you know why this is happening."
"I don't know I'll have to think about it when I get back to the school. More time to think."
"That's all I needed to ask, and as long as you give some attention to it that's all I can ask." The schedule was made and they knew that the door would be protected as long as they could keep guard. The problem is, they are protecting what Voldemort may want, but they are not protecting the most important thing of all.
A/N: Everyone, I'd like to remind you that I'm still looking for a beta, and if anyone is interested, just let me know, I don't bite, hard at least. Lol. And here's a question that I'll leave you with, and one you can answer in a review. Do any of you know what was meant by the last sentence of this chapter? See you all whenever I update!